Provoked by the negative anti-immigrant discussions and the growing presence of nationalistic parties in the EU Parliament, I started to doubt my human qualities as being a migrant - who are the “true” people?

I stood on busy streets in different cities (Sao Paulo, Sofia, Budapest, Vienna, Brussels) wearing a board on which I wrote in the local language: “My name is Hristina. I am an artist and an immigrant myself. I am working on a project, searching for the identity of the migrant. Imagine that the migrant wasn't a human being, what else would it be? Can you draw this for me? Thank you very much!“

A diversity of people responded to my presence, they were reading the text or stopping for a talk. Many of them took this chance to speak out how they feel being an immigrant or local, how they think. Some of them shared common experiences; others told me that I have to go back to my country of origin, because here is no place left for me. The drawings that people made (mostly anonymous), I have collected in an archive, titled “Towards an Encyclopedia of Metaphors for Migrant’s Identity” and divided in eight sections: 1-fauna, 2-flora, 3- landscapes, 4-human parts, 5-objects, 6-symbols, 7-abstractions, 8-others.